It was better that way because had I stayed, I wouldn’t have been able to keep from smashing his face in.

I would have tossed her over my shoulder and carried her away, but it would have been impossible. Her glowing body was ripe with my son.

My son.

Damn.

I waited for her outside the church with Keiran and Keenan to back me up if things got out of hand. I wasn’t going to leave without her and would take on everyone who stood in my way including Angel.

The doors finally opened with fanfare and flowers thrown about. I fought not to roll my eyes. I was jealous and wasn’t ashamed to admit it. They may not have been legally married, but the animal inside me didn’t give a fuck.

Seeing is believing.

The second her eyes connected with mine, I knew I had made the right choice. She didn’t know it, but her soul had been calling out to mine, bringing us together at this moment.

I knew she felt it.

I just had to get through all the red tape first.

She finally broke away and approached me although hesitantly. She knew something was up when she spotted Keiran and Keenan behind me.

These fools had scared the driver off and then took up residence on top of the car. It was a wonder they hadn’t realized sooner that they were brothers. They were each two sides of crazy of the same coin.

“What’s going on?” she whispered. Then again, maybe she wasn’t whispering. The loud fuck who was the father of the groom was shouting obscenities around us.

“I didn’t come all this way to not do what I came to do and leave empty handed.”

I could swear I heard her heart skip a beat. She looked almost relieved. “Which is?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“I came for you and I’m not leaving without you…”

And you better fucking believe I didn’t.

After listening to her protest about right and wrong and blah blah blah, she leaned her head against my chest and cried, “What took you so long?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

WILLOW

DASH HAD SWEPT me away from the wedding, not giving me anytime to change my mind. Not that I would have.

He also wasted no time bringing me back home either. I wasn’t even allowed to stop for my belongings. He simply told me to have my father send them and if he wouldn’t, Dash would replace it all.

It took some doing, but I eventually convinced him to let me call and apologize to Thomas. I was fully expecting to lose a friend, but he was more than understanding and revealed that his father had cornered him into proposing and even accepting the baby. He told me how he would always be there for me, but he wasn’t ready to be a father and had actually been terrified. By the end of the conversation, I hung up feeling as if all was right with the world.

My father was also surprisingly easy. He gave the incident no more than a cursory acknowledgment and simply stated, “As long as you’re happy.”

“Dasher?” I called sleepily. We had just finished making love. He had worn us both out and now held me tight while lazily stroking my protruding stomach.

“Yeah, baby?”

“Why do you call me ‘Angel’?”

He was silent for too long that I began to think my simple question wasn’t so simple. “Remember when I told you I didn’t remember you?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, later I did. I don’t know how or why, but I remembered the Christmas play our school held when we were in the fifth grade. Your hair was so odd in the white costume. I don’t see how I could forget.”

“Wow… really? That’s it?”

“Pretty much.”

“Hmmm.”

“Are you disappointed?”

“I just think if we ever get married and someone asks us the story behind it at our wedding anniversary we should have something more profound.”

“See that’s where you’re wrong. There is no if. We will. You’re pregnant. You love me. It’s done. The way I see it, all I need are papers on you so you’ll never forget.” I felt his arm tighten around my body and felt his breath tickle my neck where I was most sensitive. “I won’t let you run away from me again, Willow.”

I did my best to conceal my surprise. His use of my name told me one thing only and that he was completely serious.

How did I reassure him that running away was no longer an option for me when it giving up was all I’d done to us in the past? He’d done so much to break my heart but I could no longer deny my role in breaking the love we created that summer.